Limerick indie outfit Anna’s Anchor have announced their fourth album, The Merries, which is out July 7 via Strange Brew. Following the album release, they will tour the country, coming to Róisín Dubh on July 12.
Once a solo affair, this ever-evolving musical project now resembles a collaborative community with frontman Marty Ryan as the band’s lynchpin. Single ‘Function Room Floor’ looks back on teenage social awkwardness with a sweeping sound inspired by The National, Alex G, and Tycho. The insistent chord progressions play on a feeling of youthful yearning. Powerful percussion drives the song forward - especially on the outro - and shows off the talents of drummer Brian Scally (Ganglions ).
Ryan says of ‘Function Room Floor,’ “It’s a simple song about being a nervous young person at any kind of social event in Ireland, be it a teenage disco or local club hurling function, where I’d be found with my back glued to the wall afraid to speak to anyone but imagining all sort of narratives in my own head about everyone else’s lives and using that as a vicarious means of escape from my own life at the time.”
The Merries documents some of Ryan’s happiest memories, but his desire to record them came from a fever dream of pain and uncertainty. Ryan suffered a frightening head injury in 2021 shortly after moving to the US to pursue a PhD in music education. While he’s healthy now, memory loss and long term issues were an initial concern. Ryan wrote a list of important memories after the accident happened as a way to ensure he remembered those experiences that were precious to him. Strangely enough, none of these events had ever featured in an Anna’s Anchor song before, despite the band being three albums and a slew of EPs deep. Since the project’s inception in 2014, Ryan has amassed a loyal audience from playing over 350 shows all around the world in a DIY fashion. 2021’s A Glorious Ruction showed the creative potential of the band with a concept album about the River Shannon that led the group to critical acclaim in Ireland in the U.K. Musically, The Merries is the most expansive offering from Anna’s Anchor to date. Guitars, bass, drums, and brash vocals are there - as expected from the band - but The Merries also includes more stripped back songs, synthesisers, found sound, and spoken word. This album also features more individuals on it than previous releases, with Brian Scally on drums, Clare O’Brien on backing vocals (as well as lead vocals for the album’s closing song ), and even a guest appearance from Hermitage Green’s Dermot Sheedy on Bodhrán. In revisiting his past, Ryan discovered a new artistic freedom with Anna’s Anchor, culminating in The Merries.
Tickets available from roisindubh.net
